Improvement in revolving fire-arms



2 Sheets--Sheet 1. F. D. NEWBURY.

Magazine Fire-Arm.

No. 14,406. Patented Mar. 11, ,1856.

Witnesses;

Inventor.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. RD. NEWBURY.

Magazine Fire-Arm.

Pa tente d' Mar. 11, 1856.

Inv e'ntor;

Witnesses.

/ UNITED STATES PATENT F.NEWBURY, OF ALBANY, NEWV YORKI lMPRO VEMENT INREVOLVING FIRE-A RMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,406, dated March1]., 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK N EWBURY, of the city of Albany and Stateof New York, have invented certain Improvements in the Construction ofFire-Arms; and I declare the following specification, with the drawingshereto attached as part thereof, to be a full and perfect description ofthe same.

My invention is for the application to firearms of a magazine for anumber of charges and a magazine for percussion-priming caps, with theiroperating apparatus.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a pistol, to show theinternal arrangement and operation of the apparatus; Fig. 2, theoperating apparatus on a large scale, also in longitudinal section; Fig.3, a profile view of a por' tion of the breech with the priming-capchamber attached, which is shown in profile section, Fig. 4, which is across-section ofthe revolving load-chamber, and the priming-cap chamberalso.

Similar letters in the different figures denote the same parts of theapparatus.

The stock A is connected with the barrel B" with usual metal frame-work,similar to the arrangement of the Oolts revolver, having a square oroblong opening, abc d, between the stock and barrel, within which, inOolts piece, his load-chamber revolves. Within this opening revolves anoblong block of metal, 0, turning on pivots cf. It has two chambers, DE, equidistant from the center, and coinciding with the barrel B as theblock revolves. The chambers, moreover, are slightly larger than thebarrel, in order to slug the ball. Each chamber has in its rear outerangle a cone for priming-cap countersunk in it, as shown in the drawing.This block is revolved by the following apparatus To the pivot c isattached a bevel pinion-wheel, g, cogging into a bevel spur-wheel, h.The spur-wheel is most conveniently made to give two revolutions of thepinion to one of its own. Projecting from its face are four pins, as m00 0c. The trigger T has pivoted to its projecting back limb a pawl, k,

whose upper end presses against the pins :r,

so as to revolve the wheel h a quarter-circle with every pull of thetrigger. The pawl is kept in its place by the spring m.

-It will be seen that by this arrangement every pull of the trigger willturn the block 0 a half -revolution, bringing alternately each chamber Dand E in range with the barrel.

To maintain the chambers and barrel in range during the firings, a stopplug or bolt, Fig.2, passing through the face-plate back of therevolving block, can center into sockets z,'made in the block, an d iskept in place bya spring, 1.

The bolt y is attached to a lever, 2, pivoted near its center, and whoselower end lies in a notch of the trigger, so arranged that while thetrigger lies forward the bolt is withdrawn from the socket, but whendrawn back for firing the bolt can shoot forward, pressing against theface of the block 0 until the socket reaches it, when it falls in andkeeps the block firm until the discharge takes place, after which thereturn of the trigger to first position withdraws the bolt and leavesthe block free to turn.

The magazine for charges is a movable tube of thin metal, G, lying justunder the barrel, its inner end opening into a chamber in the metalframework lying in front of the block 0. Into this tube the cartridgesan are placed by removing the tube and entering them from the inner end.As they are inserted they compress a spiral spring, H, coiled in thetube,

and resting against the outward and closed end thereof, the springhaving power enough to force back the cartridges to the inner end of thetube as each in succession passes out.

The chamber L is of sufficient size to receive two cartridges, one lyingabove the other. The lower part of chamber L ranges with the chambers Dand E in the block as they come round in succession.

From the lower part of chamber L projects a shut tube, K, lying underand parallel with G. It contains a ramrod, p, which is kept habituallybeyond the chamber L by a spring. From its outer end a bent'rod, 1',passes downward and back, and is attached to the. front limb of thetrigger-guard S. By pressing back the guard S with a finger thecartridge lying in L will be transferred to the chamber D or E, and whenthe pressure is withdrawn the ramrod will be carried back by the spring,and the empty chamber L immediately occupied by the cartridge lyingabove it in the tube G. The

, vacancy in the tube G will be supplied by another cartridge pressedback by the spring H.

The magazine for priming-caps is shown at M M, Fig. 3 and 4. It is achamber lying behind the revolving block on the side of the stock,either at right angles to the axis of the block or sloping, so that whenthe weapon is aimed horizontally the caps may roll downward; or aspring-maybe used to force them downward. The lower end of the chambercurves under the stock, so as to deliver the lowest cap opposite to andin range with the cone on the lowest angle of the revolving block. Thisalso brings the cone in range with a limb, t, of the trigger, by whoseupward motion the priming-cap is pressed home on the cone. The cap beingin place, the withdrawal of it leaves room for a succeeding cap to fallinto the vacancy between the trigger and block.

The connection between the movement of the trigger and the operation ofthe hammer will be understood from the drawings, and needs nodescription.

On the lower striking-edge of the hammer,

at V, a small piece of steel is made to project forward, whose office itis, after the caps have been exploded, to pick them off the cone as thehammer is raised by the act of cooking piece. It is operated by athumb-piece lever, V inserted into the hammer and attached to it by astem, so that on pressing upon the piece in cocking, the hammer V willbe thrown forward under the burst caps and lift them OK the cone.

I note here that the reason why Irevolve the block 0 by the trigger, andnot by the hammer, as is done in other revolvers, is because it isnecessary that the block 0 should remain stationary until the process ofraising the hammer has thrown off the exploded cap.

To prevent the possibility of the fire of explosion extending from theupper to the lower chamber, I insert in the framing a slidingguard-plate, W, being a flat piece of metal fitting tightly against theblock 0, and kept in place by a spring lying in a recess behind it.

WVhenever it may be desirable, for want of proper cartridges, to loadwith loose powder and ball, this can be done by turning the" revolvingblock across the stock, as shown in Fig. l. In order to uncoverthatportion of the charge-chamber which will be opposite to theframe-work in front of it, a recess sloping down to the mouth of thechamber is sunk in the frame-work, as shown by the shading at X in Fig.2.

The operation of loadin g and firing is as follows The chambers D and Ecan be loaded with cartridges by turning the block across the frame, asshown in Fig. 4, a priming-cap to be placed upon the cone of the chamberthat will be undermost at the first pulling of the trigger, and then thechamber is to be turned to the proper position for firing. Then, the

tube Gr being withdrawn, two cartridges can be inserted into the chamberL. The tube G is then to be filled with cartridges and put in its place,when the condition of the whole will be as shown in Fig. l.- Thepriming-chamber M N is to be filled with'caps, which will bring thelowest cap upon or against the tri gger.- The piece is now to be cocked.Then, the trigger being drawn, the pawl is, pressing upon the pin 00,turns the spurwheel h, pinion g, and by them the block 0, until it hasmade a half-revolution and chamber E has ranged with the barrel. In themeantime the stop-pin 3 having been released by the withdrawal of thetrigger, presses against the back surface of the block by its spring,and at the instant the chamber and barrel align with each other it dropsinto the notch z and holds the block steady. At the same instant thehammer is tripped, and drops down on the cap, firing the piece.

The trigger, when released, is thrown forward by its spring, withdrawingthe bolt y from its socket z, and pressing to its place a primingcap,which, when the trigger was back, had dropped into the space between thetrigger and cone, as shown in'Figs. 3 and 4.

Upon the second firing the same operations occur, and then an emptychamber is brought down in range with the loading apparatus. Now, beforefiring, the guard S is to be drawn back by the finger, by which acartridge is pressed into the chamber,'which, on the withdraw al of theramrod K, is supplied from above, and the firing goes on as abovedescribed, first loading by means of the guard S.

Some of the peculiar eXce-llencies of the illvention I conceive to bethese: First, its small size and light weight for the number of chargesit is capable of carrying; second, its safety from accidental firing,because an accidental rise and fall of the hammer can efl'ect nothing,since the upper chamber is not loaded and capped unless it be brought upfrom below by the movement of the trigger; third, its safety frombursting, if by any chance fire should be communicated to the magazine,for the loadtube and the ramrod-tube are so light that they would beblown away without endangering the person holding the weapon; fourth,thestrong security against fire communicating from the explosion in thebarrel effected by the spring-guard plate; fifth, the ease with whichthe weapon can be loaded and fired in succession with one hand, theloading-guard S, the hammer, and trigger being all within the reach ofthe thumb and forefinger.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the followingapparatus, substantially as set forth in the above specification, viz:

1. The combination of wheel-gearing and pawl with the trigger, by whichmeans the block Q is revolved; the wheel-gearing itself not claimed.

2. The priming-cap magazine, in combination with the trigger, to permitthe capping of by the thumb in the act of cooking the ham the cone bythe trigger. mer, substantially as set forth in the above 3. Thespring-guard plate, to prevent the specification.

fire from the upper chamber extending to the. F. NEWBURY.

lower. Witnesses 4. The combination of the picker attached RIOHD. VAREOKDE WITT,

to the hammer with the apparatus operated W. O. MILLER.

